Giant Tennessee Bottlebrush Crayfish

Binomial Nomenclature: (Barbicambarus simmonsi)

Back in 2011 this made some headlines because this crayfish was previously undocumented under our nose in Tennessee, but also because it is a very large crayfish. In my academic searches I found very little information regarding this species as to be expected. Ever since 2011 a great deal of interest appears to have waned out of existence. Either way, I am interested in accumulating any information on this species. Particularly it would be of interest for me the possibility if it is viable pursuing work in propagating this species for food and habitat restoration. Any thoughts?

Wow those are monsters!
Have you eaten one yet?
Just the tails or is ther claw meat also?

I would like to eat them but I cannot bring myself to it yet because they are rare and very hard to find. Now if I can pay some locals to catch me live samples after I have enough information to properly contain and sustain them, the next step would be to breed them. Problem with this idea is that they would have to have relatively competitive growth rates compared to the commercial Red Claw crayfish. But then again, the meat flavor and size of these Bottlebrush crayfish may put the Red Claw to a market disadvantage potentially. Before I could ever plan to morally market such a species I first have to multiply it in numbers and propagate the species but this would not be a weekend project.

But, if you think those are monsters there is a species of giant Tasmanian crayfish that would have wonderful market potential, except they take over a decade to reach sexual maturity and though they can reach 15 pounds (what a meal) they grow very slowly to that size. That crayfish below is probably 60 to 80 years old if I were to take a guess.